Aftermath of Buu
by saiyangirlie
Summary: Post-Buu V/B, what were their real feelings after everything that had occured? P.S. We don't own anything...we just love to manipulate them


It was finally over. Buu had been destroyed and everyone was at home, together again, like it should be. Goku was back to be with the family he had left so many years before. Things would be different now; everything had changed at this point. 'What was going to happen now?' Bulma thought. Everyone parted after heartfelt embraces and salutations…and then finally goodbyes were said once again.  
  
ChiChi hugged Bulma tightly and insisted they stay in touch, even now more than ever. The Son family then parted back up to the mountains where they're home resided. After everyone else had left, Bulma scooped Trunks up in her arms, hugging him tightly. He was her little boy, and she was so glad that nothing had happened to him. He was back safe with her. So was her infamous husband, Vegeta. He didn't say a word when he first returned with Goku. He looked over in their direction with his arms folded in his notorious stance. Trunks overwhelmed couldn't help but grab his father's arm. He had been told not long before that he was dead, and because of his past, his fate wouldn't be so kind. Knowing Vegeta's approach towards human affections, especially in public, Bulma just touched his shoulder and winked at him.  
  
Back at the Capsule Corp, night was growing near and Bulma tucked Trunks into bed. It had been a long day, and she knew the boy was exhausted. Headed back to her bedroom, she decided to take a shower, seeing that Vegeta was headed to bed himself. She wanted to hold him more than anything, but knew that she shouldn't bother him. He probably wasn't in the mood for any affection whatsoever.  
  
In the shower, she thought about everything that had happened, and how she came so close to losing him forever. When Goku told her that he died she just couldn't understand it all. She knew deep down that something had happened to him. She could feel it in the pit of her stomach when everyone was on the plane looking for the guys. At that moment, she felt emptiness in her heart, something she had never experienced before. Through time Vegeta had formed a bond with her, one in which they could sense each other, and know when something wasn't right. It was as if they could communicate to each other through their minds. Yet, when he had turned evil under Baba Di's spell, she couldn't feel anything towards him…nothing that was the Vegeta she had known before.  
  
A sorrow filled over her as she stepped out of the shower, and into her sheer nightgown. As she inched towards the back of Vegeta on the bed she thought about what he was thinking. He had in a sense betrayed her and Trunks. He had let Baba Di control him purposely, and that feeling sickened her.  
  
Vegeta felt her coming closer, and he knew the sadness that filled her heart. He knew what she was thinking, and the silence was driving him insane. As she got under the covers, he felt the coldness that lay with her on the bed. She was distant from him at this moment, and he didn't like it. He remembered back to the time before this tragedy had occurred. Before when Trunks had been born he ignored her, but knew that he couldn't leave. Something about this little vixen had caught his attention, and she was not going to let him go.  
  
Then after the Cell saga, when future Trunks had been killed it baffled him. Here, his son lay at his feet, and he had not once showed him that he cared. Yet, Trunks had gone out of his way and beyond to form a trust with him, and help him. At that moment, the rage and terror raced through him and he blasted towards Cell. No intentions were towards himself, but for pure revenge for his son that had saved his life numerous times. After Cell, times were more peaceful, especially with that clown Kakarott gone. Yet, even in his absence things were not the same. Now he (Vegeta) was the strongest Saiyan, seeing that Gohan had gotten weaker over the years because of studying and going out on dates. He had wanted that title for so long, and for some reason it felt strange not having Kakarott around to beat up.  
  
Seven long years had passed, and through that time he had trained his best, he would still be better than Kakarott even in death. Trunks had grown to the age of eight, and was already marked a Super Saiyan. Shocking really, thinking as to how long it took him to reach that level, and already his own son was at that point and only a mere child. That was something to work on. If he couldn't beat Kakarott in this life, then he would at least beat his son with Trunks.  
  
Then there was Bulma. Something about her made him stay around. He hadn't been the husband to her that she had wanted, but he cared about her just the same. Somehow over the years, he had a connection with her that was beyond explanation. And yet here she lay, disappointed with him, and angry for his actions during this whole Buu trial. He knew she had every right to be, but he couldn't lay there silent, something had to be said. Which actually came as a shock to him, being that he wasn't a man of many words, unless he was insulting someone.  
  
He turned towards Bulma and called out her name. Bulma looked back to him teary eyed. He gulped in slight pain to see her so upset. To hell if he was going to apologize though. 'Hadn't he been through enough already?' he thought. I mean; he had self destructed in order to kill Buu. 'Hadn't that been enough?' He did it for his family, for his friends (what few he had), he did it for the people of earth. Something had come over him during the time that Trunks entered the scene. It was what he had said…he remembered back to that moment…  
  
"My mom told me that my dad was once a Prince of every single Saiyan…yes a Prince. And there's no way that a Prince could lose to some stupid monster."  
  
He was proud of Trunks. Something in that simple statement meant so much. Had Bulma cared that much that she boasted to her own son that he, Vegeta, was the Prince of all Saiyans? It was true regardless, but she had always fought with him whenever he brought up the statement that he was a prince. She would always stick her nose up at him and say that he was conceited for still thinking he lived on his home planet. That even if he was royalty he wasn't going to be treated any different.  
  
Why should he say anything? What was there to say? She was already upset, and she probably would get into an argument if he started saying anything.  
  
"Damn that woman, why does she always have to make me so confused?" He thought. However, she hadn't really struck that many arguments with him for a while. The morning of the tournament she was so ecstatic, running around as if it was her birthday. She kept saying she was so pleased with "her boys" and couldn't wait to see how strong they had become. That and she just wanted to brag to ChiChi. He hadn't paid that much attention to her, but she was defiantly boasting about him nonetheless.  
  
She still looked at him, her blue eyes streaming with tears. He knew that this was one of those moments that something had to be said; otherwise he would drive himself crazy with the silence and all the tears. He just didn't know how to say it all. He knew exactly what she was thinking, and what she wanted to say. Yet, it was the one thing he actually feared. He didn't want to have to answer the question that laid on her mind, and tormented it so. For, it tormented him just the same. Yet, he knew it was coming, and there was no way to get out of this one.  
  
"Vegeta?" Bulma asked in a trembling voice.  
  
"What woman?" He replied.  
  
"Why…did you…" She trailed off.  
  
"Why what?"  
  
"I thought you cared. I thought you liked living here, being here with me and Trunks….But…" She said as the tears gulped in her throat. "But you deceived Trunks, you deceived me. I know that you purposely let yourself be controlled. You wanted to be the way you were before…before you came to earth. And that thought frightens me. I thought I knew you, and yet it was more important for you to beat Goku. You wanted it. You wanted that kind of power with a passion, I could see it in your eyes. But…that…" She trailed off again as the tears began to flow more heavily. She looked at him, brokenhearted and continued. "But that isn't you Vegeta. You're better than that. You've overcome that evil nature; it was never you in the first place. You've been through so much in your life, and I'm not blaming you for your past. It's just that…I thought you actually cared enough about me now, maybe even loved me. I didn't think you would do this, and I'm only frightened to think that you don't want to stay, that you will leave me…because you want the life that you had before."  
  
Vegeta sat up in the bed looking off into to wall. Maybe if he stared enough it would save him from the void that he felt he was in. Anything was better than hearing the truth. She was right in everyway, but he had no way of answering that question. He didn't even know himself why he wanted it all, it just happened. When Kakarott returned, he knew that he would always be second best, and nothing he ever did would change that. He had trained so hard to become a Super Saiyan, and even in that degree Goku defeated him and reached a level beyond that he never could make. Kakarott had a gift that even the Prince of Saiyans couldn't surpass. In a way he felt as if he had let down his father, that wasn't even around anymore. His father haunted him in his thoughts, and dreams…just as Kakarott had always done. Under the rule of Frieza, he had done every deed possible to win the recognition that his race should have. A respect that they never had the chance to show, and his father would have wanted him to be this way. The evil tyrant Frieza had held him in bondage for so many years, and then at every corner he turned, Kakarott was always one step ahead of him. It was his damn pride that allowed him to be the way he was. That's what Saiyans were bred to be, prideful in everything, especially with strength. The only way to survive was to be prideful. Yet, for some reason it hadn't gotten him very far, and it always turned people against him. He didn't want to always be alone, but it was his loneliness that got him into to trouble in the first place. It was because of that that Bulma had come into his life. At first it was all purely physical. She seemed to meet every need for him in that way. It was fulfilling at the time. However, as time passed, it seemed that he needed more than that, he needed her. And here she was practically begging him to tell her why he had ever betrayed her, why he wanted to leave her, and the life he had grown to like here on earth. She had asked him if he cared, or even loved her to any extent. In some strange way he did actually love her. What other reason could explain why he had stayed for so long? Why did the mere thought of leaving the contentment that she brought to his shattered world alarm him? It was the only reasonable explanation he could come up with, and it wasn't exactly the one he wanted to tell her. He couldn't ever let her know the thoughts that haunted him day and night. It would be too much for her to ever understand, and then she would be in the same mess that was called his life. But, there she stood; always happy, trying to get him to share with her everything that made him the man that he was.  
  
Bulma now walked out to the terrace outside the bedroom. Vegeta still hadn't uttered a single word, and the silence still filled the room. She couldn't take it any longer, and she knew he wouldn't say anything. It was the very thing that she was frightened to realize, that he would never open up and tell her what he was really thinking. Her eyes watered up again, she knew it was drawing near. If he had let himself give in so easily and be controlled, then what was stopping him from leaving now? She started sobbing again, and the hiccups soon followed. It was too much for her right now. It had hurt so much when he left before, when he had died. And now the mere thought of him leaving, when she had just got him back was all too familiar. Many times in Trunks' early years he paid little attention to them, and left a few times because of his anger over Goku. Yet, he had always come back, and she thought that he must have cared if he did. Or maybe he didn't and he was just using her and her family. Everyone knew Vegeta, and they all knew that if he really wanted to he could survive on his own; he didn't need anyone's help.  
  
"But that's not Vegeta!" She thought. "He wouldn't just use me, he does care." Her mind raced and raced with the conflicting thoughts. Why was she doing this to herself? She knew that he had to care; he seemed to have changed when she saw him return with Goku after the Buu episode. Something shown in his eyes that she had seen over the years he spent with her. That look was gone when he had turned to Majin Vegeta, but the glimmer of it was still deep down, deep within his heart. Goku had told her that when he and Vegeta had been fighting, he (Vegeta) was constantly arguing the fact that he cared about his family. And at one point Goku had told him that he was lying, and Vegeta became enraged…obviously because he knew it was the truth.  
  
Bulma laid her head on the railing of the balcony, and cried. Even with all her analyzing, there was still a distance between them. He had failed to answer her questions, and the conversation was completely one sided right now. She was really scared, and nervous that the conversation would stay on her side, and Vegeta would just walk out. She couldn't help herself as the tears continued to flow more and more heavily. She didn't care if it would bother him, or if he would charge her with the insult of being weak.  
  
As she wept into the night, strong arms wrapped around her tiny waist. She looked up, eyes glossy and puffed from the constant worry she had caused herself in the last couple of hours. She looked into Vegeta's dark eyes, and hiccupped as she began to cry once again. He wanted so badly to say something, but his pride held him back. She should have known by now that he was never going to be a man to tell her his mind. It simply wasn't in him to be so emotional. Yet, as he looked to her, he felt a need to do something to comfort her. The only way he had ever been able to let her feel what his heart was saying was in a physical way. That's all he could do right now.  
  
His hands cupped her face, and he bent down to kiss her. This kiss intensified once their lips touched. He slowly trailed down her mouth, to her neck, and then to her shoulders where the straps of her nightgown rested. His hand gracefully touched her shoulder, and he kissed the spot that was hidden by the strap he had removed. In their first encounter, he had been anything but gentle. It was just a jolting passion that brought them together, and he just took her. Later, through their relationship she taught him to be slower, and gentler with everything. He soon became more than she had ever expected. That kind of love became the only delicate connection he could give her of himself. Yet, just at this moment she seemed to be pushing it away. She placed her hands on his chest, and pushed him back.  
  
"No, Vegeta. I can't." She said, as she looked to the ground, ready to walk back into the bedroom.  
  
"What?" He asked in confusion.  
  
"I can't do this. Believe me, I want to. I want to hold you more than anything. But you never answered me. How can I be sure that…" He cut her off, as he placed a finger over her mouth.  
  
"I won't leave you woman." He said as he kissed her again. With that one sentence, she knew that all her worrying she caused herself was pointless. She knew Vegeta better than anyone else, and she knew he was being sincere, and it was all she needed. He could sense her contentment as her arms wrapped around his neck. Her head rested in the crook of his neck as they embraced for what seemed like an eternity. Bulma wouldn't have cared nonetheless; an eternity in her prince's arms would be heavenly. Even if he was so far from affections to the rest of the world, he wasn't from her in their world. Her tears dried once they both felt that everything was safe. All the thoughts that had previously surrounded, and troubled them was solved in their strong embrace.  
  
He kissed her again, this time she let him and did not pull away. He followed her as she headed towards the bed. Vegeta knew that of all nights, this one would have to be more memorable. After all they had been through, it was all he could do to show what she meant. Not through words, but through physical love that he knew so well to give her. He would make sure that this night would not be forgotten to her for the years to come. This night he was showing her that he really needed her, and things from this point were different. 


End file.
